Rants, reviews, and resources to help sustain sustainable eating.

Worm condo relocation party: BYOGarbage

We are babysitting worms for the summer. Well, not just worms, a whole ecosystem including other creepy crawly things like rolly pollies that live in the Can o Worms composting bin that has been relocated from Zane’s classroom to our kitchen.

In John’s words, “I can’t believe you’re doing the worm thing again.”

We had a worm bin about 3 years ago. It wasn’t half as fancy as the Can o Worms luxury high-rise. It was a simple plastic box which I got after taking a class on Vermiculture composting at the Inwood Hill Park Nature Center.

The point of the worm bin is vermiculture composting, which is a way of using various species of worms, usually red wigglers, white worms, and earthworms to turn non-meat kitchen scraps into waste. Zane’s class has it to help study ecosystems and recycling. I had it because I wanted to create less garbage.

How do worm bins work? Well, the worms eat the raw kitchen scraps and poop out a nutrient rich organic matter that can be added to soil to help plants grow. And the little critters are pretty efficient. Apparently, one pound of red worms can turn half a pound of food waste into garden-ready compost every day.

Will it work? I hope so. My last ecosystem was not super successful. l was ambitious and tried to compost everything — from Christmas tree branches to banana peels. My compost got too moist and the worms tried to evacuate making a mass exodus up the sides of the bins. As they were leaving, the flies moved in.

I’m hoping that this compost bin, with its multiple layers will be easier to maintain. For one thing it has a spigot which will let me better regulate the moisture but letting me drain “the worm tea” a super rich liquid that can be produced while the worms are composting.

I recently read that worm tea is not only a great organic plant food, but it’s also a natural repellent for aphids, spider mites, scale and white flies. My houseplants can get plagued by aphids, so I’m eager to see if the worm tea really does the trick.

Why bother? Well, food scraps are organic matter. The kind of bacteria that can decompose the organic matter in the landfill gives off methane gas as a byproduct. If the methane is not vented properly it can explode or catch fire. When the methane gas is properly vented it’s a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. While this isn’t the worst contributor to global warming, the bigger issue is that by keeping organic matter out of the landfills, you both decrease the quantity in the garbage pile and you also create a usable substance — compost.